


the edge of a knife

by thorelyn



Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Thor 2, Thor 2 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-04
Updated: 2013-06-04
Packaged: 2017-12-13 23:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/830184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thorelyn/pseuds/thorelyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Backs turned to the others, to all the cosmos-they can only face one another, until it consumes them. Even in one conversation, the very foundations they stand on shake beneath their feet. - a talk between the brothers</p>
            </blockquote>





	the edge of a knife

“You know, you really ought to walk a little _quieter_ , Thor, lest you let all of Asgard know where it is you have come.”

Aside from Thor’s own footsteps, Loki’s voice had been the only sound in the prison. All cells were empty, save his, and the guards were still-statutes more than watchers. Thor dismissed them with a nod of his head while he came to stand in front of Loki’s cell, still dressed in the black cloak he had worn to the funeral. The thunderer looked straight at Loki (not that he would look elsewhere, especially not here) and sighed quietly. Loki was laying on the bench in his cell, appearance more skeletal-more foreign-than he remembered.

“I do hope you sent my regards to the Allfather. I am sure that in his grief, he is as cold as ever.”

“Loki.”

“You would deny that?” A bark of a laugh escaped the trickster, and he swiftly rose to his feet. To Thor, it appeared as if Loki had suddenly become a standing figure, and he wondered if Loki had been standing this whole time, and the casual image was just that-an image. “And here I thought you had actually gained at least some wisdom in your exile. It is a comfort to know you don’t deviate from the standard.”

“I did not come here for your mockery, Brother.” Thor’s voice was solid, despite what crumbled beneath the surface. “You were not allowed out.”

“No, of course I was not. Why would any of this realm allow a _Jotun_ to stand and see their queen sent off to Valhalla?” Loki stepped closer to the glass and watched-stared-at Thor. A wicked grin, so feral in nature, flashed across his face. “Odin would be most displeased with that.”

“She would have wanted you there.”

Thor felt something tighten in his chest-how could Loki twist his words so? Did he not know the love that was held for him, both in Thor’s own heart and that of their late mother? He had gone to the Allfather, to seek permission for Loki’s admittance to the funeral. Thor himself would have kept Loki at his side, for who better to keep Loki at bay than the other son watching his mother being taken into the heart of the cosmos? Yet Odin ignored the silent plea in his son’s eyes and stared ahead; stared right through Thor, as always, and kept his gaze to peace and the future.  
Yet there would be no peace.

\---

“Your brother. Is he...safe? For you to go and see?”

Jane’s eyes were wide when looking up at him. They were not blind to the great weakness in Thor’s armor, that was Loki. They were not blind to the inevitable. They were not blind to the struggle, to the edge that the brothers would drag the cosmos to-and it would either be them pushing the worlds of Yggdrasil into the abyss below, or it would be the two of them falling, together, until the very end of their world consumed them. Her eyes had seen the building of bridges between worlds-her own hands had held on steady to the very beams connecting the universe. And yet, her hands would be ones to help and break them, when the time came. The cosmos were filled with wonders that she had only ever dreamed of, yet they could not-Thor would not-come before the very safety of Earth; of Erik and Darcy and all the work she had done to help the rise of humanity amongst the struggle of the Old Ways of Asgard.

“More or less.” Thor tilted his head slightly with his answer, glancing down at her-but careful to avoid her eyes. He could not bear to see the fires reflected in them as Frigga’s burning vessel departed Asgard for Valhalla. “But it must be done. To be rid of the threat of Malekith, we will need his help.”

“Be rid of the threat.” Jane let a light laugh escape. “That’s very...definite.”

“As war must be.” Thor felt his face darken with his words- _was he really saying that?_ -while he turned his gaze ahead once again. “It is the duty of this realm to maintain peace for all the worlds.”

And such peace came with great sacrifice, Thor thought as the burning boat that bore his mother vanished; swallowed by the hungry nebulas that cared not for war but for the end of it; they cared not for peace but the price of it.

Was this what he believed in?

\---

“I’m sure she would have, Thor.” Loki seemed to scoff with the very thought. “The sight of her two sons; one broken, the other muzzled and shackled to the elder son. What a vision we would be, seeing her off into the stars.”

“That is not what I meant-”

“Then _enlighten_ me.” Loki stepped close to the glass-Thor almost thought he would burst free and step forth to confront him. “For what else would Odin Allfather have done? Would he have allowed me to stand on my own, and bring all eyes of Asgard to me rather than to her?”

“That is enough, brother-”

“He could not afford any more disgrace to the House of Odin, now-”

“I said enough!”

Thor had, at some point, moved forward and slammed his fist against the glass, staring intently into the cool eyes of his brother. It was, probably, for the best that the glass panel stood between them. Yet even still, grounds shifted and morphed into chasms and an endless abyss below their feet. Their constant struggle, their never-ending butting of heads, would tear the cosmos apart. A thin smile spread across Loki’s face.

That was the price to pay.

Silence settled between the two brothers for an eternal moment. Loki knew, so well, how to call forth his siren’s song and summon that deep and permanent warrior’s rage that lie within his brother’s broad chest. Loki was still, waiting; amused. Thor had to catch his breath. So openly, the elder son of Odin wore his heart on his sleeve. It was armor, yet it was weakness.

“Tell me, Brother.” Loki’s voice was quiet, yet every last word that left his lips dripped with that venom he wielded so expertly. “Does that halfwit team of heroes back on Earth know of your true nature? Do they know that their mighty Avenger is naught but a troubled son, seeking vengeance and war?”

“They know who I am.” Thor narrowed his eyes slightly and swallowed hard-no, they did not know such truth. Thor had been brutally honest, yes, but they knew nothing of the honest brutality which Thor had been taught to wield all of his life. “Are they who you wish to discuss now?”

“Of course not.” Loki gave a grim, gleaming smile. “Such caution with them-and for what, to uphold peace? Peace has long forsaken us, Thor.”

“It will be found again.”

“And what price will we all pay to uphold this broken vision of yours, and of Asgard?”

“You include yourself in a vision of peace? This is a change, Brother.”

“Now you twist my words.” Loki straightened his posture and smiled-an expression so feral and yet so familiar-at Thor. “Who would have thought?”

“Will you help?”

“Help Asgard? Help you? What could you possibly offer to persuade me to help?”

“Freedom.”

“Freedom.” Loki sneered. “ _Freedom_. It is naught but a poison.”

“Yet you sought to attain it for yourself.”

“Well, if this is considered freedom-” Loki finally looked away from Thor, to gesture about his cell with a smirk of amusement, “-then I do not wish to know punishment.”

“You may avoid such punishment yet, if you come to the aid of Asgard.”

“ _May_ holds little sway.”

“Loki.” Thor’s hand balled into a fist, then relaxed with a slight slump of the shoulders. Weary-Thor was weary. Weary of war, of pain, of loss; he needed this. He needed his brother. “Please.”

“Give me time to think of the matter.”

“Very well.”

“Leave me be. Return to your gilded halls while some gold remains yet to glimmer in the dying Sun.”

Thor watched the trickster move back to the bench, and settle down on it once again with a wild grace. Predatory. The thunderer took a step away before turning, to go and leave. Silence once again carved its claws in the thick air and engulfed the thunderer in its abyss; there was so much to say, yet no way to say it.

“Was _she_ there?”

Loki’s voice took Thor by surprise, and he stopped in his tracks to turn and look upon his brother. He sat on the bench, eyes closed and head tilted back-was that how he listened to the funeral bells that rang loud and true?-while remaining still.

“Aye.” Thor frowned faintly. Jane was there. Jane was there to hold on to Frigga as she took her last breaths, drowning in a pool of her own blood. jane was there while Thor cried out in anguish, to see his mother slain. Jane was there as Odin Allfather set the ship on fire, and Jane was there to watch Frigga swallowed up by the cosmos, those wide eyes not missing a detail. The thunderer swallowed hard and watched his brother. “She was.”

There was no vocal retort from Loki; merely a quick turn of his sharp shoulder so that his back face Thor.

As it was meant to be.

\---

“You have betrayed the house of Odin, the realm of Asgard, and the treaties that have helped shape pace in Yggdrasil for ages.” Odin Allfather spoke with a clear voice; a beacon to be heard by all the realms, should they listen. “And for that, you must be punished. You will not find pain of death, but your greatest weapon shall be dulled.”

Loki was before the throne, held to his knees by one of the guards. Thor stood at his father’s side, trying so hard not to look at Loki, but how could he keep his gaze away from the mangled and twisted arms, the sharp cheekbones, the dark circles beneath his eyes?

“You will no longer be free to speak.” Odin rose slowly to his feet, and a servant brought forth a box, while Odin took into both of his hands. “Thor, step forth.”

Surprise flashed through the thunderer’s eyes, but he did as he was told, and moved to stand before Loki, who stared at him through a veiled gaze.

“My hand is not steady, and this must be done with careful precision.” Odin opened the box, and held it forth for Thor. “This task is left to you, Prince of Asgard, to complete.”

 _No_. Thor clenched his jaw as he looked into the box. All that lie in there, waiting, were a strip of leather and a thick needle. No. Eyes moved to Loki, then back into the box, and hands slowly lifted to remove both objects. The leather had already been strung through the needle-all that was left was the gruesome application.

Freedom was a poison. Yet, was destiny not a poison as well? This long-foretold dance along the edges of the universe, between two brothers-broken images of one another-held no boundaries, yet was closed entirely around them.

Thor lifted the needle and slowly pulled the leather out with it, avoiding Loki’s gaze for as long as he possibly could. When his eyes fell to his brother’s eyes, Loki stared hard. A challenge-or a plea? Something tightened in Thor’s chest, and he could only look down at his brother.

 _No_.


End file.
